Event Comment: 1st piece [1st time; PREL I, by George Colman elder; also ascribed to George Keate. Larpent MS 565; not published]: In Three Scenes of Dialogue. 2nd piece: The Music compiled by Dr Pepusch. 3rd piece [1st time; B. BALL I (see king's, 29 Mar.)]: Ballet Tragi-Comique by Signior Novestris [i.e. George Colman, the elder]. The Music by Signior Gluck. With New Scenes, Dresses and Decorations. Machinist and Painter-Signior Rookereschi. Tailor-Signior Walkerino. Morning Chronicle, 9 Aug.: Bannister with great good sense played chastely, and suffered the burlesque to arise out of his serious performance of Polly, not attempting to render the character ridiculous by making it more outre than it was rendered by his voice and figure

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of King Lear, announced on playbill of 10 Nov.] Receipts: #112 5s. 6d. (110/15/0; 1/10/6)

Event Comment: The Critic [announced on playbill of 6 Feb.] is unavoidably deferred on account of the Indisposition of King. Receipts: #159 14s. 6d. (112/16/0; 46/12/0; 0/6/6)

Event Comment: Variety is unavoidably deferred [Public Advertiser, 26 Feb.: on account of King's illness] till Monday next, when it will certainly be performed for the First Time. Receipts: #118 1s. 6d. (85/3/0; 32/16/0; 0/8/6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by John O'Keeffe, altered from his The Banditti (see 28 Nov. 1781). Text in his Dramatic Works, Vol. 1 (T. Woodfall, 1798)]: With new Scenes [by Carver (O'Keeffe, u, 38)], Dresses, and a new Overture. The Selected Airs by Handel, Vento, Giordani, Giardini, Bertoni, Dr Arne, and Carolan, the Irish Bard. The Overture and New Airs composed by Dr Arnold. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [This was Sga Sestini's 1st appearance on the English-speaking stage. For several preceding seasons she had been a member of the Italian opera company performing at the King's.] "Sestini . . . was handsome, sprightly, and a good actress, if great exuberance of gesticulation, activity of motion, and affected Italian smorfie could make her one; but her voice was gritty and sharp (something like singing through a comb), and she was nothing of a singer, except for lively comic airs. Yet she was . . . long a favourite with the mass of the public, though not with the connoisseurs" (Mount-Edgcumbe, p. 33). Account-Book, 30 June 1783: Paid O'Keeffe in full for The Castle of Andalusia #368 18s. 6d. Receipts: #166 2s. 6d. (165/9/0; 0/13/6)

Event Comment: Opera this Evening. The new Serious Opera of Medonte, intended for King's representation this Evening, is deferred till Thursday the 14th instant, on account of Sga Morigi's not being quite recovered from a very severe indisposition

Event Comment: Paid McMillan for Paper Machi to ornament the King's Box [on 9 Jan.] #5 18s. 6d. Receipts: #280 8s. 6d. (271/4/0; 8/14/6; 0/10/0)

Event Comment: [Mainpiece in place of King Richard the Third, announced on playbill of 11 Feb.] Receipts: #112 5s. (103/9; 8/16)

Event Comment: "The company [of spectators] was so numerous that there was hardly room on the stage for the performers to go through their pans . . . Mme Simonet displayed all that power of acting for which she has been so justly celebrated since the first introduction of the ballets called 0?Action when first Vestris held the sceptre of Terpsychore at the King's Theatre [in 1780-81]" (Public Advertiser, 18 Feb., which also has a synopsis of the action)

Event Comment: Benefit for Suett and Chapman. Public Advertiser, 22 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Suett, No. 24, King Street, Holbourn; of Chapman, No. 49, Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Afterpiece: Not acted these 4 years. The Music by Barthelemon. Receipts: #160 15s. (39/5; 10/4; 0/4; tickets: 111/2) (charge: #108 18s. 8d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Burton and Harwood, prompter. King continuing so ill that it is impossible for him to perform this Evening, Waldron has kindly undertaken the Part of Sir Peter Teazle at a very short notice, and most humbly hopes for the indulgence of the Public. Receipts: #209 15s. 6d. (35/3/0; 15/10/6; 0/5/0; tickets: 158/17/0) (charge: #106 13s.)

Event Comment: Creditors of Mr Taylor are requested to meet the Trustees this Day, at One o'clock, at the Bedford Arms, Covent Garden. The Proprietor having, upon a certain Ground, granted the use of the House for the Benefit of the Performers, during the Remainder of the Season, there will be an Opera on Thursday next. [It was cancelled.] Several Persons of Fashion having generously raised a new Subscription for the Relief of the Performers, they take this opportunity of returning them their most cordial thanks. The Price of the new Subscription is Five Guineas each Subscriber, for 12 Benefit Nights, the Money to be paid into the hands of Mr Drummond, Banker, at Charing-Cross. [On 27 May a concert was held at the Pantheon for the benefit of the singers and dancers who had lately belonged to the King's Theatre, in which they all participated.]

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Watts. Mainpiece: Written by Mrs Centlivre; Not acted these 40 years [not acted since 27 Apr. 1731, at Goodman's Fields]. Prologue written by a Gentleman [unidentified; printed in Town and Country Magazine, Apr. 1784, p. 214. The playbill for this performance is as printed in Morning Chronicle, 8 Mar. Gazetteer, 8 Mar., assigns Captain Constant to Reynolds, Laura to Miss Beaufield, Maria to Mrs Green, Belinda to Miss Johnson]. The Doors to be opened at 5:00. To begin at 6:30. Tickets to be had of Connolly, at the King's Head Tavern, Fenchurch-street; of Watts, No. 2, Upper James-street, Golden-square

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss George. Gazetteer, 10 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Miss George, No. 23, King-street, St. Ann's. Mainpiece: With a Grand Procession of the different Orders of the Knights of Chivalry. Receipts: #141 19s. 6d. (60/8/0; 22/4/6; 0/15/0; tickets: 58/12/0) (charge: #117/19/0)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Siddons. Part of the Pit will be laid into the Boxes. To prevent confusion Ladies are desired to send their Servants by half past Four o'clock. Mainpiece: Not acted these 4 years [acted 15 May 1782]. Afterpiece: Not acted these 5 years [not acted since 25 Mar. 1775]. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Banquo to Bensley, but "Poor Bensley's illness last night took him off; but on another night he will give and take in the triumph" {Public Advertiser, 4 Feb.). In afterpiece he is assigned to The Guardian. On the Kemble playbill in both cases his name is deleted and MS annotations substitute Hull's.] "Macbeth at Drury-lane will. . . gag the drivellers who, on the failure of Constance [in King John], ventured a sweeping prophecy of condemnation that 'the Siddons never could play Shakespeare.' Would it not have been better to have borrowed Farren, rather than Hull, for Banquo?" (Public Advertiser, 4 Feb.). "'Why,'say some of the critics, 'should Mrs Siddons wear a white dress in her last scene of Lady Macbeth? She is supposed to be asleep, not mad.' What reason except custom can be given for a mad heroine appearing in white we know not [and see DL, 20 Dec. 1782]. Yet there is an obvious reason why a person walking in their sleep should wear a white dress of the loose kind worn by Mrs Siddons ... It [is] the nearest resemblance which theatrical effect will admit, to the common sort of night-dresses" (Public Advertiser, 7 Feb.). Receipts: #346 16s. (198/10/0; 7/2/6; 0/8/6; tickets: 140/15/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Benefit for Baddeley. Public Advertiser, 2 Apr.: Tickets to be had of Baddeley, No. 2, Little Russel-street, Covent-garden. [In mainpiece the playbill assigns Ogle to King, but on the Kemble playbill a MS annotation substitutes Barrymore.] 2nd piece [1st time: INT I, probably by Robert Baddeley. MS: Larpent 692; not published]. Receipts: #226 3s. 6d. (105/18/0; 30/11/6; 0/16/0; tickets: 88/18/0) (charge: #111 17s. 7d.)

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for Mrs Greville. Tickets and places to be had of Mrs Greville, No. 1, Queen's-court, King-street, Covent-garden. [This was Mrs Pinto's last appearance on the stage (but see 12 May 1786).]

Event Comment: Benefit for Miss George. Public Advertiser, 30 July: Tickets to be had of Miss George, No. 23, King-street, St. Ann's, Soho

Event Comment: [As mainpiece the playbill announces The Way to Keep Him, but it "was postponed on account of the sudden indisposition of King and Miss Farren" (Public Advertiser, 7 Nov.). Its substitute is listed in the Account-Book.] Receipts: #225 8s. (195/8/0; 29/12/6; 0/5/0; ticket not come in: 0/2/6)

Event Comment: [The playbill announces The Country Girl and Hurly-Burly, but "in consequence of poor King and his gout, and the absence of Grimaldi, the Country Girl and the Pantomime were changed, and into something better, viz. Twelfth Night and the Romp" (Morning Chronicle, 5 Jan.).] Receipts: #194 17s. (178/13; 15/1; 1/3)